Public information about health care quality is hard to come by, sometimes not objective, and often difficult to understand. Early on the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) saw an overwhelming need to make such information available and recognized that providing the information online is the most effective path.
- In 2002, CHCF first began publishing ratings of nursing homes online at the site “California Nursing Home Search” (CalNHS.org). In December 2004, CHCF added similar profiles and ratings of home health care agencies and hospice services. And in September 2005 the site was expanded to include congregate living health facilities, assisted living, continuing care retirement communities, adult day health care programs, and adult day care centers.
- Around that time, CHCF also embarked on a new effort to report on the quality of care in California hospitals; however, not much data existed. So hospitals and insurers agreed to voluntarily start collecting key data on medical outcomes. In 2007, CHCF began aggregating the new data with existing sources and launched Cal Hospital Compare to provide performance report cards for participating hospitals.
- In 2009, CHCF launched CalQualityCare.org, upgrading and updating the California Nursing Home Search site based on in-depth research conducted among key audiences, including consumers and long-term care providers.
- In 2014, CHCF combined all these resources into one unified place — at Cal Quality Care
- In October 2016, CHCF transitioned ownership of the hospital portion of Cal Quality Care to a multi-stakeholder, non-profit entity, Cal Hospital Compare. The long term care portion of the website remained on the Cal Quality Care website managed by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
- In January 2017 and 2018, Cal Hospital Compare released a California Hospital C-section Honor Roll to identify hospitals that met or surpassed a federal target aimed at reducing Cesarean births (C-sections) for first-time mothers with low-risk pregnancies. The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) announced the achievement awards to hospitals on behalf of Smart Care California.
- Starting 2019, Cal Hospital compared released a Patient Safety Honor Roll and Opioid Care Honor Roll to identify hospitals that met or surpassed a number of patient safety metrics, including but not limited to healthcare associated infections, sepsis management, and patient experience, as well as hospitals that have demonstrated their commitment and progress addressing the opioid epidemic in their communities.
- In 2021, due to lapse in funding, Cal Hospital Compare assumed ownership of the Cal Quality Care website from UCSF.
- In January 2022, the Cal Quality Care website was relaunched as Cal Long Term Care Compare, focusing initially on nursing home performance. In addition, Cal Healthcare Compare was created as the governing entity over both Cal Hospital Compare and Cal Long Term Care Compare.
- Beginning in 2023, Californians will get easy access to data on over 19,000 long term care services and facilities in California, thanks to a $1 million grant from the California Department of Aging for the expansion of the Cal Long Term Care Compare website.
- In August 2023, Cal Hospital Compare added quality measures and ratings for psychiatric care including stand alone facilities.